When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#675 - Two new witches

Entering March of 1447, the temperature in Black Serpent Bay increased almost geometrically every day. By mid-March, even wearing the thinnest linen shirt felt sweltering.

Unbuttoning his collar, Horn leaned against the pavilion pillar like a bear scratching against a tree, completely disregarding the presence of several ladies.

Located on a mound by the Iber River, the hexagonal pavilion cast a long shadow under the scorching sun.

Inside the cool pavilion sat four witches, or five if Horn was counted.

The simple roof of the pavilion was covered with thick green turf and dark red moss, and the air was filled with the moist scent of wood and the fishy smell of the river.

Except for a few witches who couldn't leave the battlefield, the remaining important witches of the Central County were in this small pavilion, gathering around a round table for a spring outing.

Picking up his teacup, Horn used the action of drinking coffee to survey the witches in front of him.

It had to be said that the physique of witches was truly outrageous. There were four witches here, each with a distinctly different beauty, surpassing many female stars even in modern times.

After entering the Central County, Horn had not been able to meet all the witches of the Witch Council. Some were on the front lines and unable to get away, while others refused to meet with Horn.

The only ones he could actually meet were Ottathil and Novia, the two new witches.

Past Loulouse, who was sitting obediently on the stone bench hugging her knees, smoking a pipe and drinking coffee, was Novia, a witch who looked about sixteen years old but was actually over fifty.

Her hair was half pink and half black. Horn initially thought it was magic-induced, like Jeanne's golden-tipped hair.

However, it was actually dyed. The black half was just new hair growing out.

At the moment, she was studying a small orichalcum clockwork box, even sticking her fingers into the gears to fiddle with them, which made Horn shudder, but she didn't care.

When Horn annoyed her, she would turn away and secretly taunt Horn with the mechanical soul inside the clockwork box.

This witch's ability was very special, which was to manipulate metals, change their shape, or control their movement.

Unfortunately, this manipulation required actual physical contact and could not be applied to metals with too much density or volume.

As for her flying ability, it came from a special mithril armor artifact.

In other words, Novia was not flying herself, but controlling the mithril armor to fly, simply putting herself inside.

Of course, there was only one mithril armor, and the magic power to drive it was also only Novia's.

But in any case, being able to fly by stepping on her own feet was heaven-defying enough.

Sitting directly opposite Horn was Jeanne, who was facing away from Horn, using a telescope to observe the new army training below the mound.

Amidst the sounds of commands and weapons clashing that could be heard on the mound, the Black Serpent Bay Divine Punishment Battle Group soldiers were carrying stones on their backs, running unsteadily along the river in disorganized formations.

Beyond the soldiers in front of him, further away behind the forest and river bends, he could see rising yellowish-green smoke and hear vague screams.

However, the distant roar of the griffin cannons did not affect Ottathil's mood to read the 'Truth News'.

This bookish witch held her chin in one hand, while the other hand constantly moved across the text of the newspaper.

The president of the Witch Council had always been mysterious. Cheka had learned that she was a physical-type witch, but almost no one had seen her use magic. She was a rather mysterious witch.

This Ottathil was a person who knew the general situation. After a meeting with Horn and Loulouse, she quickly changed her mindset and joined the Holy Axis.

The speed of her attitude change and the smoothness of the matter's progress caught Horn a little off guard.

He just didn't know why, but every time Ottathil met Horn's eyes, there was a strange and curious look in her eyes.

Perhaps because she noticed Horn staring at her, Ottathil tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, pointed to an article on the paper, and asked, "I have finished reading these issues of the 'Truth News'. To prevent me from misunderstanding, can I confirm it with you?"

Horn leaned over and saw that the article Ottathil was pointing to was the lead article in the new issue of the 'Truth News': "Why Only the Holy Axis Can Be Called a Country?"

The basic content of this article was about what the system of the imperial kingdom was like, what its essence was, and what the Thousand River Valley and the Holy Axis were like, why this was more advanced, and why the imperials had no freedom...

This article seemed to be popularizing knowledge, but in fact, it was subtly criticizing the empire for being unfree and unequal, using propaganda to secretly increase war support while also shaping a national consensus within the Holy Axis.

And this was Horn's propaganda offensive to build an imagined community. Unfortunately, the imagined community did not have 'me' before 'you', but 'you' before 'me'.

Without a 'hypothetical enemy' to distinguish differences, it would be impossible to unite the interior.

After the 'Truth News'' winter ideological reform and this period of popularization, the people of Thousand River Valley had gradually formed some 'common sense' of modern countries.

These common senses, when put together, constituted the public's imagination of the country and their self-positioning.

It was impossible to rule a modern country solely with bureaucrats.

After listening to Horn's explanation, Ottathil asked faintly, "Then can I understand that the people of the Holy Axis are actually considered the true chosen people of the Holy Father?"

Horn was stunned for a moment, then looked Ottathil up and down: "You are smarter than I thought."

Ottathil was about to say a few humble and polite words when she heard footsteps coming from beside the pavilion.

She looked up and immediately saw Mormont saluting Horn.

"Your Majesty, you summoned me?"

Smiling and turning sideways, Horn examined Mormont in front of him: "How is the effect of the bombardment?"

Mormont straightened his back and said forcefully, "The effect is very good. Part of the outer wall of the castle has collapsed, and the fortress on the east bank has lost the ability to counterattack."

"But I have to say, the power of the griffin cannons is too strong. Every shell makes the stern rise, causing the ship to shake violently. Fortunately, the water flow here is calm. If it were in turbulent currents, there would be a risk of capsizing."

Horn frowned slightly and muttered to himself, "Recoil..."

It had to be said that these wooden gunboats were all temporarily modified from barges and were indeed difficult to withstand.

He had thought about manufacturing temporary mortar gunboats before, but he didn't know if the steel frame reserves were enough, and if not, whether oak could be used instead.

"I will pass the problem on to the Engineering Academy." Nodding, Horn continued to ask, "What is the situation of the Two-Headed Serpent Fortress? Can our fleet pass through on a large scale?"

Mormont's heart trembled, but he still answered truthfully: "Although the fortress still stands, it has lost its ability to counterattack, and the fleet can completely pass through on a large scale."

"Okay, good." After listening, Horn pondered for a moment and said softly, "Take a day off tomorrow."

When Mormont heard the word "holiday," his heart sank. He looked up, hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered the courage to ask, "Your Majesty... are we going south?"

Horn smiled slightly, his tone unhurried: "Except for Ethena and a few others, the Phoenix Lady has signed the Black Serpent Bay Joint Declaration."

"I can now basically officially announce that the future Black Serpent Bay Federation will be a part of the Holy Axis."

"However, you also know that the establishment of a country cannot be without bloodshed, so before that, we must first expel and judge those greedy devils in the Southern County."